旧金山 – California state and local governments should provide free lawyers for detained immigrants, 一个广泛的移民组织联盟今天表示. 一个新的 研究 这个组织，被称为 加州全民代表联盟, found that immigrants detained in California who have an attorney succeed in their cases more than five times as often as those who don’t.
“没有保证的BG大游顾问, detained longtime California residents and asylum seekers fleeing severe persecution cannot meaningfully exercise their right to apply for relief from deportation,Eleni Wolfe-Roubatis说, Immigration Program Director at Oakland’s Centro Legal de la Raza, 联盟成员. “Forcing individuals to navigate the complex immigration system on their own violates due process.”
安东尼奥, a Salvadoran father of three United States citizen children was almost separated from his family because he could not pay for a lawyer. 25岁的他在8岁时来到美国. Unaware that he had been ordered deported by a judge in Texas as a child, he was arrested for a misdemeanor and landed in a California detention facility where he was scheduled for imminent deportation. 幸运的是, 在他被送上飞机的前一天, 安东尼奥 happened to meet an attorney from Centro Legal de la Raza who filed an emergency motion to stop his deportation and helped him obtain legal status to stay with his family.
联盟的报告题为 California’s Due Process Crisis: Access to Legal Counsel for Detained Immigrants, shows that thousands of California children are at risk of being placed in foster care upon the detention or deportation of a parent or endure trauma with long-term health consequences, 导致较差的教育和健康结果. Immigration-related arrests half household incomes on average, 让许多家庭没有人挣工资. As a result, loved ones go hungry and struggle to remain in their homes.
阿尔弗雷多·弗洛雷斯(Alfredo Flores)和他的美国同事住在一起.S. 公民的妻子, 在联合城的女儿和孙女, was detained by immigration authorities for over a year, during which time his family was evicted and forced to seek public assistance for the first time in their lives because they couldn’t make ends meet without their primary breadwinner.
“Being detained sent my family into a terrible crisis,” Flores said. “There is no way I could have been released and won my case without legal representation.”
The overwhelming majority – nearly 70 percent – of detained immigrants in California go unrepresented in their deportation cases because they can’t afford to hire a lawyer, 研究发现.
“The lack of counsel for immigration detainees has a huge impact on California communities causing family separation and straining city and state support networks,Jayashri Srikantiah说, director of 斯坦福大学法学院移民权利诊所, 联盟的成员. 斯坦福诊所发表了一篇 报告 in 2014 that found that Northern California immigrants who are locked up during their deportation proceedings are much more likely to be able to stay with their families and communities if they have an attorney.
不像刑事被告, immigrants are not entitled to court-appointed attorneys even though a deportation order can have deadly consequences for those forced to return to countries where they are threatened by drug cartels, 帮派或性别暴力.
“For those who have fled sexual and gender-based violence and other trauma, discussing their past experiences may be very difficult,Christine Lin说, Senior Staff Attorney at 性别与难民研究中心. “Legal representation is crucial to ensure that they can present their testimony, 都有公平的听证会, and are not being returned to face further violence or even death in their home countries.”
State or local publicly-funded programs to represent immigrant detainees are not without precedent and make up the beginning of a national movement to provide universal representation to all detained immigrants comparable to public defender programs, 联盟说. The California proposal follows the example of New York City, which instituted such a program beginning with a pilot in 2013 and expanding to full coverage the following year. In 2014, the City of San Francisco funded the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative (SFILDC), a unique partnership of 13 legal service providers to provide representation at the San Francisco Immigration Court to unaccompanied children and families fleeing violence in Central America and Mexico.
“We’ve had extraordinary success with SFILDC,” said Avantika Shastri, the SFILDC’s Legal Director. “Our program shows that publically-funded representation of immigrants benefits everyone by not only protecting the rights of vulnerable populations, but also supporting family reunification and enriching the future of our entire community.”
The 加州全民代表联盟 includes Centro Legal de la Raza, 加州美国公民自由联盟, 中美洲资源中心, 加州移民政策中心, 加州移民青年正义联盟, 性别与难民研究中心, 大众民主中心, 神职人员和俗人经济正义联盟, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, 东帕洛阿尔托社区BG大游服务, 移民维权BG大游集团, 移民BG大游资源中心, 移民青年联盟, 跨宗教社区促进和平与正义, 民权律师委员会, 全国日工组织网络, 国家移民BG大游集团, 盘古BG大游服务, 公共BG大游顾问, 斯坦福大学法学院移民权利诊所, 以及维拉司法研究所.